


Eden

by FamiliaAnteOmnia



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Castiel (Supernatural) Goes To Syria, Episode: s13e14 Good Intentions, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-31
Updated: 2019-08-31
Packaged: 2020-10-04 02:57:14
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,881
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20463887
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FamiliaAnteOmnia/pseuds/FamiliaAnteOmnia
Summary: “Now the LORD God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. The LORD God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” – Genesis 2:8-9“And the LORD God said, ‘The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.’ So the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.” – Genesis 3:22-24“Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month.” – Revelation 22:1-2





	1. Good Intentions

“So-” Dean dropped into the nearest chair, wiping a hand down his face “-these four major ingredients, how the hell are we supposed to find them? I mean where do we even start?”

Sam opened his mouth to speak. 

“If you say research right now, Sam, so help me God I will kick your ass,” Dean barked, causing Sam to promptly shut his mouth again with an audible snap.

Cas rolled his eyes. With Mary and Jack still trapped in the Apocalypse world, tensions were building to new levels within the bunker and, despite Cas obtaining the ingredient list for the spell to open a rift between the two realities, Donatello’s deception had hit the brothers hard. It was obvious that Dean did not approve of the methods Cas chose to gather the information they needed from Donatello, but there was no time for ‘pussy-footing around’ – as Dean would phrase it – and drastic measures were required. He may be angry now, but Cas knew that Dean would see it was necessary in the end.

“We’ll find them, Dean,” Cas assured, taking a seat and resting his elbows on the table, his fingers interlaced. “But we can only do that if we put our heads together.”

Dean exhaled a long, sighing breath and lifted his gaze to meet Cas’; the lines around Dean’s eyes seemed drawn, echoing their solemn expression.

Cas’ own eyes softened. “We’ll get them back.” Even though he may not know all the complexities of human emotion, he knew Dean, and he poured as much faith as he could muster into his gaze, hoping that at least some of it would transfer. If Cas looked close enough, he would have sworn that the corner of Dean’s mouth pulled up a little.

“Cas is right,” Sam interjected, somewhat louder than he had intended. Dean flinched at the sudden outburst, causing him to shift in his seat and pull his gaze away. Sam’s eyes flitted between them for a moment before adding: “we need to do this as a team.” He patted Dean’s shoulder encouragingly, giving him a small smile before leaving to fetch his laptop.

Dean watched as Sam disappeared towards the bedrooms, his eyes lingering on the corridor even after his brother’s towering form was no longer in sight. Again, he sighed.

“What are we gonna do, Cas?” he asked. Desperation rang clear in his voice, exhaustion woven into every word. “I mean, we’re still struggling to get the Archangel grace, let alone the other three. The only chance we have of that is Lucifer, and he isn’t gonna just hand it over out of the goodness of his own heart. He’s more powerful now, he’ll kill us before we even try. And even if we did manage to get some from him, that’s only more incentive for him to fuck us over like he’s done for the last hundred times!” The more Dean spoke the angrier he became, his voice growing in volume and ferocity. By the end of the last sentence he was out of his chair and pacing up and down the length of the table, gesturing wildly.

“Dean…” Cas began, choosing his words carefully. “We will cross that bridge when we come to it.”

Dean rolled his eyes. “I think the bridge has pretty much been and gone at this point, Cas,” he growled. “It’s been _months_ since we lost Mom to that place, the longer we wait the closer she is to being killed, if she’s not dead already!” He slammed a fist down onto the table.

Cas was not surprised by his rage. “I know, Dean,” he said, taking a deep breath, “we’re doing everything we can, you know that.” However he chose to word it, he knew it only sounded like an excuse.

With hesitant steps, he circled the table to Dean’s side. The hunter was leant over, pressing his knuckles into the table and glaring furiously at the illuminated map beneath them. Cas tentatively placed a hand on his shoulder. The muscles in Dean’s jaw tightened briefly, but his breathing soon began to slow and Cas could see that he had relaxed his hands a little, the blood returning to his fingertips. Cas waited until Dean eyes met his before he spoke.

“We’re going to get Mary back, and Jack too, whatever it takes.”

. . .

“Okay-” Sam straightened up in his chair, turning slightly so that he was facing the others “-so get this. According to the bible, the Tree of Life resides in the Garden of Eden. It’s mentioned in the Book of Genesis as being one of the trees that grows alongside the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.”

Dean frowned. “The what?”

“The tree from which Eve ate the apple,” Cas clarified. “But Eden was closed off to humans, after the so called ‘original sin’.” If this was any other day, he would have been proud of his appropriate use of air quotations, but today he let it slide.

Sam looked back at the laptop screen, scrolling further down the page he was reading from. “Ah yes, it says here that after God banned Adam and Eve from the Garden he placed cherubim at the Eastern entrance-” his brows raised momentarily “-as well as, and I quote, a ‘flaming sword flashing back and forth’…”

Dean leant back in his chair. “Of course, ‘cause a gate would have been _much_ too easy.”

Cas rolled his eyes. His grips with sarcasm had improved greatly in the years he’d associated with the Winchesters. “God was much more… theatrical… in the early days.”

“Clearly,” Dean scoffed. He pondered silently for a moment before clapping his hands together. “So, what’s the plan? Any ideas?”

Cas contemplated Dean’s fervent expression. There were times in the past when, on reflection, Cas had likened Dean to a bloodhound; strong, tenacious… relentless. If there was even the slightest chance that they would be able to reach their goal, he would run head-down into anything. Despite its usefulness at times, this stubbornness is what landed him in numerous dangerous predicaments, and this mission was no different.

“Actually, Dean, I would have to do this alone.”

Dean stiffened. “What’s that now?”

“Cas, buddy-” Sam tucked a stray lock of hair behind his ear “-what are you talking about?”

Dean laughed. An empty, somewhat panicked laugh that didn’t quite reach the corners of his mouth. “He’s talking bullshit, that’s what!”

“Dean,” Cas sighed, “if you’d just-”

“No!” The chair fell back with a thud as Dean stood. “I mean, what are you trying to pull here, Cas? Last time you went solo you got kidnapped by Asmodeus and almost killed by Lucifer, and now you’re saying you wanna do it again? On a mission like this? That’s not gonna happen.”

“Dean,” Cas snapped, frustrated, “I have to go alone because you and Sam are human.”

Dean frowned. “And?”

Sam, however, leant back in his chair, realisation evident on his face. “Humans are forbidden,” he acknowledged, before furrowing his brow again. “But that makes no sense, Dean and I were in the Garden when we spoke with Joshua.”

Cas shook his head. “That was Heaven’s Garden, not the original Eden. And yes, they are forbidden; it was said that one day access will be granted again, but only to those who follow God’s commandments-” he looked pointedly at the brothers “-and neither of you exactly fit those criteria.”

Dean opened his mouth to speak but thought better of it.

“And not only that,” Cas continued, “the Garden resided somewhere in the Middle East, and it is my understanding that the area is currently war-ridden. It would not be safe for you both there, not when you could be shot down at any moment.”

Neither man replied, leaving the soft echo of Cas’ voice to fill the silence. Dean chewed his lip for a moment before picking his chair back up off the floor and taking a seat.

Seeing this, Cas relaxed a little. “I am an angel,” he said, more softly this time. “I have a better chance of seeing this through, and you know it.”

Sam sighed before nodding. “We do, Cas, of course.”

Cas was grateful for Sam’s understanding, but he kept his gaze focused on Dean, watching the man’s eyes as they flitted back and forth. A few moments passed before Dean sighed, rubbed a hand across the nape of his neck and muttered a reluctant “fine.”


	2. Homework Sucks

“C’mon Cas,” Dean chided, “you’ve been around for, like, _forever_, surely you remember where it is?”

Cas rubbed a tired hand down his face. “It’s not that easy, Dean. No one has seen Eden for many millennia, the angels all but abandoned it after the humans were cast out.” He sighed. “And anyway, the Earth has seen a drastic change since then. All I can tell you is that it is in the general vicinity of the Middle East.”

The room was silent for a moment. Dean, perched awkwardly on the edge of the table, rose a little as if to stand but seemingly decided against it and instead crossed his arms tightly across his chest.

Sam shuffled in his seat. “Any chance you could, maybe, narrow it down a bit?”

Both brothers looked at Cas with expectant eyes and furrowed brows, and despite their attempt at patience it just frustrated Cas even more. Humans never seem to understand the immense scope of an angel’s lifetime; people like Sam and Dean are lucky to live for several decades, whereas Cas has lived for thousands of them, and such an extensive life span can result in the occasional slip in memory. He was not involved in the events of Eden – the angels were still young at the time and he himself was not high enough in rank to associate with the guardians of this new creation. Of course, he knew of Gadreel’s failure to protect Eden from Lucifer’s corruption; the whole of Heaven shook with such rage and disgrace it would have been impossible to miss it. But Eden was promptly vacated and Cas did not hear much speak of it again. _My job was to watch over the humans, _he thought petulantly, _not an empty garden_.

“If I remember correctly,” he began, “it was this general area in which civilisation first began, in what you’d nowadays call Ancient Mesopotamia. However, the region spanned roughly a million square kilometres, it could be anywhere-”

“Okay, Cas-” Dean interrupted, pinching the bridge of his nose “-we get it.”

Cas narrowed his eyes. “I am just trying to tell you what I know, I’m sorry if its not the information you were hoping for but there is nothing I can do about that.” 

“Guys,” Sam quipped, “now is not the time for this.” He pressed his fingers against closed eyes, inhaling deeply before dragging his hands down his face and giving his head a quick shake. “I think its best we sleep on this and get back to it tomorrow.”

Despite not needing sleep, Cas took this as an opportunity to end the conversation and acknowledged it with a small nod. “Sam’s right, you two should rest. It’s been a long day.”

Dean remained silent for a moment, his body still apart from the tips of his fingers which drummed a soft, disjointed beat against the underside of the table. “Yeah, okay,” he agreed finally, rising to his feet and raking a hand through his hair. “We’ll settle this in the morning.”

The finality of his statement rang in Cas’ ears. Even after Dean had strode out of the room and Sam had flashed an apologetic smile before uttering a quick “night, Cas” and sauntering after him in the direction of his bedroom. Fractured memories and ambiguous guesses were not going to cut it anymore, the boys needed an answer and for possibly the hundredth time Cas was unable to give it to them. He did not want to be the reason they were unable to find all the ingredients to the spell. He certainly did not want to be the reason they lose their mother for the second time.

Cas squeezed his eyes shut. These thoughts were the beginning of a downward spiral that he knew all too well, and it would do no one any good to continue farther. He shook his head sharply, as if this would somehow catapult the thoughts straight out of his head.

_Pull yourself together_, he scolded, straightening up in his chair and smacking his hands down on the tops of his knees. _Think_.

. . .

The bunker at night possessed a somewhat eerie stillness that Cas found so unbearably quiet it was almost deafening. Dean’s soft snores didn’t quite reach the library, so it was always the most silent and therefore most uncomfortable room to be in. For this reason, Cas would regularly roam the corridors while the brothers slept; wandering in and out of the kitchen, the games room, the archive room, looking for something to occupy his time. Sometimes he would leave the bunker entirely and trek through the woods surrounding it, and other times he would simply sit on his bed and do some reading.

Tonight, however, he flicked on the lights of the archive room with purpose. They blinked reluctantly, before blanketing the dusty shelves in a soft, yellow glow. Cas started at the back, dragging his finger across spines and labelled boxes as his lips mumbled each title, every so often pulling one out and leafing through the aging pages.

Half an hour had passed before he finally closed the door behind him, his arms laden with books that he carried to the library and laid carefully on the table. It was a further hour of tedious research before he stood up, stretched, and proceeded to search through the many other volumes stacked on the library shelves.

Nothing.

The bunker contained a multitude of books, records and files, but not one of them mentioned the location of Eden. Cas studied page after page on the subject – he even flicked through the Bible a few times – but to no avail. He threw the last book down in frustration, glancing around him at the various others strewn across the table. It was hardly as if he had expected the exact location to just fall into his lap, but he had at least hoped that maybe the Men of Letters had thought to investigate it. Clearly not.

With a heavy sigh he slowly began to slot the books back into their original places, taking great care with some of the more dated volumes. His phone display taunted him with large, illuminated numbers, reminding him that it was almost six o’clock and dawn was approaching. It was characteristic for Sam and Dean to emerge from their rooms after only a few meagre hours of sleep, especially when tensions ran at such a high, and so Cas dragged himself away from the disappointment of the library and towards the kitchen to make some coffee.

As soon as he entered the room he was greeted with his own sombre expression staring back at him, dulled and a little distorted by the cold stainless steel. Not even the kitchen would give him any respite from his own disappointment. He pulled his eyes away with a disgruntled huff and continued with his task, setting two mugs down on the counter as the coffee maker sputtered into life. Before long the pot was full and Cas was once again left with the empty silence of the bunker.

Suddenly, as if it had read his thoughts, he was startled by a loud, bell-like ring. It sounded only once, but it was enough for Cas to decipher its origin and find the culprit: Sam’s iPad. The screen was lit and a small message had appeared in the centre:

_Low Battery_

At first he thought to leave it be, but instead he picked it up, entered the passcode – which Sam was not aware he knew – and opened up the internet search page. Inexperienced with this type of technology, it was a little while before he’d managed to type the words he wanted into the search bar and press enter.

In mere seconds he was presented with page after page of websites, all claiming to have found the location of Eden; some proposed several possibilities, others indicated a particular site of interest. The problem was, each location was different.

“Perfect,” he mumbled sarcastically, before taking a seat at the kitchen table and selecting the first website link.

. . .

Dean yawned loudly as he shuffled towards the coffee machine, the end of his dressing gown belt dragging along the ground behind him. “Morning, Cas.”

Cas, still deeply engrossed in his research, replied with a half-hearted “hmm.”

After a few desperate swigs of his coffee, Dean released a contented sigh and took a seat across from Cas, blinking the sleep out of his eyes.

“Whatcha up to there?” he asked finally, peeling a hand off of his warm mug to tug at Sam’s iPad until he could get a peak of the screen.

Cas narrowed his eyes. “Reading,” he said flatly as he snatched it back out of Dean’s grip.

Dean eyed him questioningly for a moment, but decided to leave it. “Fair enough.”

Satisfied that Dean was finished, Cas returned to reading a promising article about a site in Turkey. 

“Does Sam know you’re using his iPad?”

Cas chose to ignore him.

“I’ll take that as a no.”

With a roll of his eyes, Cas lay the iPad down. “I’m only borrowing it, I’m sure he won’t mind.”

Dean, who’s face was still half-buried in his coffee cup, peered over the rim with amused eyes. “If you say so.”

“For your information,” Cas began with a frustrated sigh, “I have been doing research regarding the location of Eden. Neither the archives nor the library provided anything of use so I resorted to the internet.” He reached again for the iPad as if to continue reading, but decided instead to press the off button and put it aside. “It was just lying on the kitchen table anyway.”

This prompted a small chuckle from Dean, which Cas returned with a smile. 

“You find anything then?” Dean’s attempts at small talk were betrayed by a momentary clench of his jaw, bringing them both back to reality.

Cas scratched behind his ear. “Well, there are several theories–” 

Sam’s heavy footsteps interrupted Cas mid-sentence as he traipsed through the kitchen door. “Hey guys,” he said, without even a glance in their direction. Instead, he headed straight for the refrigerator and cranked it open, fumbling inside in search of the juice carton.

“Good morning, Sam.” Cas hadn’t quite grown out of formal greetings just yet, something which Dean had reminded him of on more than one occasion.

After gulping down the last of his coffee, Dean stood, grabbed the iPad and announced a little too loudly: “Cas is finished with your iPad, mate, in case you were wanting it back.”

Cas shot him a displeased look. _He did that on purpose_.

Sam paused, one hand still in the fridge as Dean crossed the room and handed it over to him. “Oh,” he finally blurted, “I, er, didn’t know you knew how to use it.”

Sam was precious about his possessions at the best of times, but the idea of someone like Cas – who was not exactly technologically savvy – using his iPad provoked the most confusing of expressions.

“I figured it out in the end.”

Cas glanced at him warily. Sam’s eyebrows were knotted together in a strange, half-up half-down configuration, creating a significant number of creases on his forehead. This, together with a small twitch that had taken root at the corner of his mouth, confirmed to Cas that Sam did not approve, even if he wouldn’t admit to it. Dean, however, struggled to hold back a laugh.

Cas rolled his eyes. “Thank you, Dean,” he said, voice thick with sarcasm.

Dean gave Cas a playful thump on the shoulder. “You’re welcome.”

They had so few moments like this anymore. The pressure to rescue Mary and Jack weighed heavily on their shoulders and morale had taken quite the hit for it – opportunities for joking around were few and far between these days.

“I was researching the location of Eden,” Cas confessed, feeling the need to explain himself. “I couldn’t find anything in the archives so I tried the internet.”

This seemed to peak Sam’s interest. “Did you find anything?” he asked, taking Dean’s unoccupied seat.

“Well,” Cas began for a second time, “there are a few locations that stand out.”

. . .

“I’ve narrowed it down to three possibilities,” Cas said, indicating towards the large, illuminated map on the war room table. “Now, it is said that Eden was situated at the convergence of four major rivers. Which rivers these are, however, seemed to be under much speculation, but several sources claim that two of the four great rivers could in fact be the modern-day Tigris and Euphrates. If so, the first possibility is Southern Iraq, where these two rivers merge before flowing into the Persian Gulf.” He pointed to this area on the map. “The second is Northern Iran, in the plains East of Tabriz.” He reached forward and tapped his finger on Iran. “According to archaeological findings, this area shares several geographical similarities to those described in the Bible.”

Cas glanced up at the brothers. Both were frowning furiously, but they appeared to be keeping up.

“The third is Eastern Turkey.” He pressed the tip of his finger to Turkey. “Both the Tigris and the Euphrates originate in this area and, according to one article, there’s a dig site situated somewhere between the two that contains some interesting archaeological structures.”

Dean crossed his arms. “So how do we know which one?”

“At this point it’s hard to say, it could be either one of them,” Cas answered truthfully, shrugging his shoulders and releasing a long breath before adding: “or neither of them.”

Sam clenched his jaw. “So there is every chance you get there and find… nothing? No Eden?”

Cas paused a little before replying. “Yes.”

Silence.

Nothing but the hum of lightbulbs and a distant dripping tap for almost a minute.

“Great,” Dean finally said through gritted teeth. “Just fucking marvellous.” Without warning, he snatched his mug from the table and flung it across the room, sending it crashing into a nearby wall.

Cas flinched.

“Dean, please” Sam cautioned, but his words held little weight behind them. He mirrored Dean’s bleak expression almost exactly.

Dean glared furiously at the ceramic fragments that littered the floor, hands balling into tights fists until his knuckles drained of colour.

Sam turned away, rubbed a hand down his face, and took a deep breath before turning back to face Cas. “So, what do we do?” he asked.

Cas glanced down at the map. He hesitated as if in contemplation but, in reality, he’d thought of nothing else for the last thirty minutes. There was nothing he could offer them – nothing that would assuage their fears anyway. So, after taking a steadying breath, he decided to bite the bullet.

“What we do, Sam, is make a calculated guess.” 


End file.
